Tommy Penick Photo

This morning a conversation, a friend and I were talking about what the past year of our lives have contained--it's really amazing to think how fast the time goes, and how much can be fit into a little 365 day window. And although the past year has been huge, even since the last time I posted, so many things have evolved and changed into things I couldn't imagine less than two months ago. I've had a hard time summing up so many things into words; so in the style of previous posts detailing way too much information, I'm just going to lay out where the road has taken me over the past two months since my last post...and of course show it in images. My final weeks in Tahoe were outstanding. Things started clicking and I was finally in the groove. The last month was full of video shooting (to be released soon), an awesome project down on the coast with The High Fives Foundation, paddling the South American, a fly fishing project outside of Mammoth, CA, mountain biking with the full photo crew, and just generally enjoying the area. However, green deciduous forests, fog banks, and creek boating were calling my name in the Southeast, as well as a final semester at Appalachian State.

So I hopped in the car on a Friday morning and by Sunday night I'd made my way across the country. Although most people think I'm crazy, I can't emphasize enough to people that before they die, they need to drive across Nevada. It's amazing to find such untouched desolation and wilderness immediately off of the road in the United States, and to not touch a highway for the first 16 hours and 1100 miles of driving. After a few stops with some good friends along the way, I was back in Boone, North Carolina.

Since returning, I've hit the ground running probably faster than ever, although that equates to my car still being pretty much packed with stuff from the move. A few personal goals, such as running the Green River Narrows, were finally checked off my list. More importantly I've reached a few career goals, such as becoming contributor for Aurora Photos, an phenomenal agency I've been eyeing for quite some time. The calendar is booked for months and the projects are coming together, stay tuned for more developments!

Although this is just scratching the surface of the past few months, sometimes things just can't be written; instead shared over a good cup of coffee--which I'd be more than happy to do for anyone.